This is my favourite photo of our nuclear family. Dad, me in the middle, and mum.
My father was born in 1909 in Cape Town, South Africa. As a child he moved to London with his mother to continue his musical studies. He came to Australia in 1930 and fell in love with the country and the climate and became one of the most famous classical concert pianists and recording artists Australia had ever produced.
My mum was born in 1935 in Sydney, Australia. She was a talented pianist and became a pupil of my father’s. They fell in love, got married and ten months later I was born.
Not long before he died in December 1982, he appeared on his old friend, Don Lane’s show.
You can listen to some of the beautiful music my father recorded by clicking on the links below.
Isador Goodman (piano) – La Campanella (Liszt) (1943)
Isador Goodman plays Strauss – Schulz-Evler The Blue Danube
Isador Goodman plays Litolff Scherzo
Isador Goodman plays Saint-Saëns “The Swan”
Isador Goodman plays Liszt Verdi Rigoletto Paraphrase
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Nocturne in F Op. 15 No. 1 (1947)
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Impromptu No.2 In F-sharp, Op.36
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Waltz in D flat Op. 64 No. 1 “Minute Waltz”
Isador Goodman plays Strauss-Grunfeld “Soiree de Vienne”
Isador Goodman plays Wagner arr. Brassin Magic Fire Music from Die Walkure
Idyll – Lindley Evans – Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Patrick Thomas – Isador Goodman, piano
Isador Goodman plays the Warsaw Concerto
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Polonesa “Heroica”
Isador Goodman plays the Cornish Rhapsody
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Waltz Op. 64 No 2
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Estudio “Tristeza”
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Polonesa “Militar”
Isador Goodman plays Chopin Impromptu No. 2 in F Sharp Major Op 36
When my father died in 1982, my mother realised that it was finally time to write a book about his extraordinary life and career. My father had urged her to write his life’s story for years, but she didn’t feel that she could do it justice while he was alive.
When her book, Isador Goodman, A Live in Music, came out in 1983 it was in the top 10 best seller list for over a year. Today it’s out of print but you can still find copies of it available on the internet.
She went on to promote the book and talk about my father on national morning TV shows which you can watch below.
L J Goodman 